Recent reforms have made pension systems more financially sustainable and pensioners have higher living standards than ever before. But future generations are likely to find their pension entitlements much less generous than today’s and many may face a serious risk of pensioner poverty, according to a new OECD report.

This is an article full of gold dust for A2 micro students who want to explore further whether mega mergers are eventually in the interests of consumers. There is a widely held view that the majority of big takeovers fail to achieve the gains in shareholder value that were forecast. Do mergers help to improve economic efficiency - allocative, productive and dynamic?

Thanks to @Graham Watsonfor spotting this remarkable example of the market power of Tata Steels with their suppliers. Economists call this monopsony power. These are exceptionally difficult times for Western-based steel manufacturers. Can Tata realistically hope that their supplier-base will be willing and able to do enough to keep them afloat with global steel prices in free fall amid huge excess supply?

Trust Kipper to capture the funny side - but extending payment deadlines to over three months is not just a sign of the buying power of the industrial beer manufacturers but also not allowed under EU law. A bitter argument is brewing. Not that I would drink anything that comes out of a can. There is a well known saying that beer-makers sell what they can and can what they can't. The stuff in cans is dregs!

I know lots of you are following this takeover as part of your business economics work. This discussion focuses on two key aspects of corporate mating - namely the search for cost-cutting and revenue synergies. Costs are like toe-nails, they need to be clipped constantly. How big will the economies of scale be for horizontal integration of two brewing giants?

Lidl is spending hundreds of millions of pounds refitting and effecting a rebrand of many of their UK stores. Are they trying to move upmarket, moving from the no-frills approach to something approaching the Waitrose/M&S experience? The subtle changes of font and colour and eerily familiar for those of us who take their Waitrose bags to any supermarket we shop at!

A BIG merger in the global hotel industry. Hotel group International is buying rival hotel chain Starwood Hotels for $12.2 billion. It'll now become world's largest hotelier. As usual, look behind the headlines for some of the cost and revenue synergies that the deal is "expected" to create. According to the Guardian article, the groups said the tie-up would provide substantial economies of scale. The transaction is valued at $72.08 per Starwood share, representing a premium of about 19% on the share price before the merger rumours surfaced.

Great example of sunk costs. Remember these are cost that can't be recovered if the firm leaves the market. Here the specialist machinery and equipment is no use outside steel production and given the state of the market no buyers seem likely for the surplus equipment.

Upstream revenues hit by a sustained period of low global oil prices but downstream input costs also falling - two sides of the story for a vertically integrated BP that is still adjusting to the fall out from the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

A hat tip to Matt Smith for spotting this one and putting on his excellent twitter feed @EconomicsALevel

This article from the Guardian will be a go-to resource when I start teaching the economics of price discrimination in a little while. Now more than ever businesses have the potential to harness information contained in digital profiles of customers to offer bespoke, personalised prices for different goods and services. The costs of market and consumer segmentation are coming down and this type of pricing behaviour is likely to become a more frequent occurrence in our daily lives.

Please do have a read and consider some of the efficiency and welfare implications of digital dynamic pricing.

One to watch - the much heralded and long-standing joint venture between Nissan and Renault seems to be under stress. French car manufacturer Renault owns 43% of Nissan, while the Japanese firm holds 15% of Renault. Is un mariage de convenance on the cards (eventually?) or would that end in tears?

Retail without the risk? The Gym Group is a low-cost fitness chains and one of many that is racing to open up new gyms by leasing some of the spare retail space on Britain's beleaguered high street. This FT Lex interview is just 3 minutes long but offers plenty for A2 macroeconomists.

The gym industry is highly fragmented at the moment - lots of private equity money is flowing into the sector, not least because it is one of the few industries that Amazon cannot capture!

Hot on the heels of Nutella, Marmite has become the latest spread to unveil a personalisation service. For the first time ever, lovers of the 'Love it or hate it' condiment can get their name emblazoned across a tub at Marmite's pop-up shop in Westfield, White City or via the brand's Facebook page, where the service was announced.

I once won a competition in which 1st prize was a year's supply of Marmite ...... it was one jar! The pop-up shop idea continues to catch on - why sink money into expensive retail leases when you can open up shops on a temporary basis to take advantage of seasonal demand?

I know that many students and teachers follow this one - the rise to prominence of the discount retailers is one of THE business stories of the last few years, it shows few signs of slowing especially as many of the dominant food retailers are shelving (sorry) plans for expansion! Check it out!

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